Alex Livingston raised to 5,500 under the gun and Patrick Royal called on the button before the big blind tossed in a call.
The dealer fanned a flop of 10♠7♠2♦ and the action checked to Royal who slammed a stack of reds across the line for a bet of 35,000. The big blind quickly folded and Livingston pushed his entire stack of roughly 35,000 to make the call.
Alex Livingston: K♠Q♠
Patrick Royal: 10♥8♠
Royal had flopped top pair, but Livingston was far from dead as he had two overcards and a flush draw. The 8♣ hit the turn, improving to two pair, leaving Livingston looking for only a spade. The 5♣ river was not one of them though as he left the table.
A player in early position raised to 6,000 and there were two calls before Ryan Peters jammed his 17,000 in the middle from the big blind. The action was back on the original raiser as he shoved his 51,000 across the line. The player next to act made the call and the only other player in the hand mucked his 10♠10♦ face up.
Ryan Peters: Q♦8♠
Early Position: J♣J♦
Opponent #2: A♥9♥
The Q♣9♦8♦ flop gave Peters two pair to take the lead and the K♦ turn and 5♦ river improved him to a flush as he collected his triple up.
As retold by a tablemate of Troy Mclain: Four players had got all of the chips in the middle, each having about 50,000.
Mclain was dominating with his KxKx as all three opponents had smaller pairs. He was up against pocket queens, tens and nines and was able to hold on a clean run out as it came Ax and all cards under the nine. This pot sent Mclain over the 200,000 chip mark as he knocked out three opponents.
With roughly 50,000 in the middle, the board read A♦J♥6♣3♦K♦.
Joe Rangel bet out 6,000 before his opponent raised to 70,000. Rangel went deep into the tank for a couple of minutes before making the call for his remaining stack of 29,000.
His opponent tabled J♦10♣ for a pair of jacks before he showed his A♥9♦ for a pair of aces to earn the pot.
Greg “FossilMan” Raymer, who won the 2004 WSOP Main Event, was one of his table’s short stacks returning from the break and he patiently waited to pick his spot in Level 14.
He found it after Scott Symonds raised to 8,000 in early position. After action folded to Raymer, who was on the button, he looked down at his hand, placed his trademark fossil card capper on his hand, and then made a three-bet, moving the bulk of his chips – a total of 38,500 – in front of him. He left 500 behind, and Symonds quickly called.
The dealer placed J♥A♥3♣ on the board, and Symonds made the bet to put Raymer all in. Raymer tossed his remaining chip in the pot, leading to both players to table their respective hands.
Raymer: Q♥Q♠
Symonds: A♠3♠
Symonds was ahead after flopping the ace, but the turn produced 7♥ and provided Raymer a level of hope for running hearts for a flush.
The river, however, showed 7x to give Symonds the win and send Raymer to the rail.